How to Backlink Like a Pro

When you’re looking for the most reliable information on the web, it’s important to consider the source — especially in an age when anyone can type up an article and call it the truth. To become an authority on the content you create and improve your organic rankings, it’s important to consider investing more in your backlink strategy.

We’ll take a look at the anatomy of a good backlink and share some ways you can get more from other high-authority sources.

The Benefits of Backlinking

Earning backlinks has several benefits for your content and your brand. Think of page links to your blog posts as high-fives from other authoritative webpages. Backlinks show they trust your content and have a desire to share your wisdom with their audience.

Improve organic search results. Having a higher search engine ranking means more people will organically find your website simply by searching. A higher number of backlinks will help this, but they shouldn’t all be from the same source. More on that below.

No matter what, quality content is key. Your posts should be a magnet for links, so why waste time creating content no one wants to link to? Make sure your content is original, educational and thorough. Need some ideas? Check out this blog for some inspiration.

What Makes a Good Backlink?

Not all backlinks are created equal, and you play a big part in making sure the ones you receive are as high-quality as the content you’re producing.

A good backlink should:

Include your keyword in the link anchor text. This makes your rank more powerful because it also helps with SEO value. Anchor text is the visible part of your link on the page. For example, if the content you produce mainly focuses on traveling on a budget, the anchor text shouldn’t read “donuts are amazing” (even though they are). Here are more examples of different types of anchor text.

Come from sites that already have authority. Using the same example as above, a link from Travel Magazine would be more valuable to you than a link from some kid who blogs about a trip he once took (this would be considered a low-quality backlink). The more authoritative the external website, the more powerful the link.

Be listed as dofollow links (vs nofollow). In search rankings, only dofollow links count. If a link is marked as nofollow, this signals to Google that this particular website should not be counted in the influence of your ranking. An example of a nofollow link is a blog comment or social media post.

Come from a relevant website in your industry. Related to keywords in anchor text, a donut shop linking to your content about traveling on a budget doesn’t help your ranking.

Send readers to low-authority sites. This is where Google’s Disavow Links Tool comes in handy. It allows you to tell Google to ignore certain incoming links that seem spammy or send your audience to low-authority sources.

Where to Check Backlink Quality

There are several tools you can use to check the quality of your referring domains, but the backlink checker we use is SEMrush.

SEMrush’s backlink audit tool will identify which links are currently pointing to your website along with the referring domains and number of toxic links. The toxic and potentially toxic links should be reviewed and disavowed through Google Search Console to maintain a quality backlink profile. Furthermore, this audit tool can also be used to identify the backlinks your competitors have to help target new linking opportunities.

Pitching Your Backlink

So where can you get more link opportunities? We have a few suggestions:

Social media outreach: You’ve probably noticed social platforms are full of lists and roundups. Say you stumble across a tweet that mentions the “Best [insert industry] Resources in 2019.” If you are a company that can fill that blank, reach out to the curator of that article and ask to be included. Be sure to provide a link to your content for easy insertion on their end.

Guest posts: Offer to guest blog for companies related to your key topics. This will allow that external website to link back to your existing content.

Unlinked brand mentions: Do a quick Google search of your company name. Find any articles that mention you but don’t link back. Send a quick email thanking the company for writing the article and mentioning you. Then ask if they’d mind linking back to a page on your website and provide that URL. Kuno Creative has seen great results using this approach for our clients.

Similarly, if you stumble upon an older article that could benefit from a link to a tool you can provide, reach out and ask for a backlink.

Putting in the extra legwork for quality backlinks will pay off when your organic search traffic increases and more clients start knocking on your digital door. Keep creating quality content that your readers will find useful, and look for places where that content fits into a bigger picture. After all, who wouldn’t want a high five from someone they looked up to?

The Author

With a background in magazine journalism, Megan channels her love of the English language and grammar into her writing and editing. Before joining Kuno Creative, Megan was a top content marketer at a leading healthcare media company, where she helped clients translate their brand promises into strategic digital and social media messages.